Society of Southwestern Authors launches self-publishing expo | Things to Do in Tucson

The Society of Southwestern Authors is sponsoring its first Tucson Self Publishing Expo on Saturday, March 4.

The group usually holds a writing conference, but with the Tucson Festival of Books taking place March 11-12, the group decided instead to hold an expo focused on helping writers self-publish, said Chris Stern, the group’s president.

The society is a nonprofit association of writers and other publishing professionals founded in 1972 to promote supportive friendship among writers, recognize members’ achievements, and encourage and assist people wanting to become published writers.

Expo speakers will include Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, one of the largest ebook publishers in the world. Coker will open the expo by talking about the “Top 10 Trends Shaping the Future of Publishing.”

Coker will also give three workshops: “An Introduction to EBook Self-Publishing,” “The Secrets of E-Book Publishing Success,” and his third will be “How to Use EBook Preorders to Hit the Bestseller Lists.”

David VanDyke, a Hugo Award finalist who lives in Oro Valley, will hold a workshop on “How I went from $0 to $200,000 a year by publishing my books”

Robin Cutler, the director of Ingram Spark, a group committed to getting content delivered, will lead a workshop on “The Simplicities of Self-Publishing.”